Although women represent a majority of voters, they are underrepresented in parliaments worldwide.
Elections in 1992 gave the British parliament a record 57 women, up from 44, which was less than seven percent.
Shadow cabinet elections added two women, for a record five overall.
Turkey elected the country's first woman prime minister, but just eight of the 450-member parliament are women.
Poland's parliament also approved its first woman prime minister.
In Pakistan, two women are in the 217-seat lower house and only one is in the 87-seat upper house.
In Switzerland, the male-dominated parliament, after women's protests, were obliged to elect a woman to the Federal Council, the second woman minister in Swiss history.
In recent US elections, women won six seats in the Senate, up from two.
Women's gains have been achieved through various efforts.
British gains were helped by the Labour party's requiring MPs to vote for at least three women on each ballot in shadow elections.
They later proposed to increase that number to four and to create all-women shortlists for 50 percent of all winnable seats and 50 percent of those vacated through retirement.
In Scotland, the Constitutional Convention proposed requiring parties to submit equal numbers of men and women candidates, and the Labour party decided to use the "additional member" system to achieve gender equality.
Turkey's Social Democrats suggested a quota system to ensure women's representation, and Pakistan's government planned to introduce a constitutional amendment to reserve 20 seats for women in its lower house.
